It is the summer of 1939, and Dennis and Kathie Hawthorne, who run Westways, a village market garden, are utterly content. But when war arrives, Dennis, a member of the TA, is called up immediately, leaving Kathie to engage helpers and run the garden. As Kathie's narrow existence widens, her confidence grows, but she is stirred by previously unknown emotions as her world falls apart aroudn her; emotions that bring her to despair, and finally to a new certainty and deeper understanding.